Bureau of Land Management · MT

James Kipp Campground

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$20From, per site
2,270 ftElevation
632 ftWater · Missouri River
23.3 miS of Hays, MT
0%Tree cover
Bortle 1Night sky · 2nd darkest of 501 in MT

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

James Kipp Recreation Area is situated along the Upper Missouri River and is open from April 1 to December 1, annually. This is a popular site for launching watercraft, as well as camping, picnicking and fishing. The potable water system is currently shut down. Water for the RV dump will become operational after the last spring freeze, typically by May 15. Campsites are on a first-come, first-serve basis — NO RESERVATIONS There are 34 sites that can accommodate trailers or recreational vehicles (RVs) up to 40 feet in length. There are no hookups. Each site has a designated fire ring and picnic table. The campground is equipped with vault toilets, trash dumpsters, and an RV waste dump ($10 dump fee).

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…table. The campground is equipped with vault toilets, trash dumpsters, and an RV waste dump ($10 dump…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…as camping, picnicking and fishing. The potable water system is currently shut down. Water for the RV…”
Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
River
Boating
Fishing
Hunting
Paddling
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $20 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe agency’s record
A night$20Per site, fromthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$40DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itBureau of Land Managementthe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 5

What you actually pay

The sign priceBureau of Land Management
A night, from$20
Night, 14 Day stay limit$20
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
One night, fromDerived$20
A weekend, Friday and Saturday, fromDerived$40

Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($20), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5

rules read Sep 7, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the phone number

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon65°Sunny
Tonight41°Partly Cloudy
Saturday79°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night42°Mostly Cloudy

NWS forecast for Landusky, MT

Typical weather

Typical October night 32°F, day 60°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 10°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

100°32°0°

Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more

A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: ROY 8 NE, MT (USC00247228), 12 miles away and 815 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Troy Downing, official portrait

James Kipp Campground is in Montana’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Troy Downing (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: Bureau of Land Management publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
Cell signal: the BLM’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Landusky, MT, 18.8 mi S (a census designated place). Straight line.